Machine gun



Feb. 4,1936. R. F. SEDGLEY EnA 2,029,839

' MACHINE GUN I Filed April 27, 1935 2 sheet-shee't 1 W M 7 :1 TTORNEV Feb. 4, 1936. R. F. SEDGLEY ET AL 2,029,839

' MACHINE GUN Filed April 27, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 4, 19136 PATENT OFFICE MACHINE GUN Reginald F. Sedgley and Martin Wurzer Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 27, 1933, Serial No. 668,186

8 Claims.

The training of men in the use of machine guns under firing conditions has heretofore been limited due to the rapidity with which the ammunition is consumed and the cost of such ammuniv tion.

If means can be devised to give the same training under firing conditions and reduce the cost of the ammunition, it is feasible to give troops a novel machine gun of any desired calibre which i can be used for single shots or be fired automatically.

A further object is to devise novel means for readily attaching a sub-calibre machine gun to the housing of a standard machine gun.

With the above and other objects in view as will hereinafter more clearly appear, our invention comprehends a novel machine gun.

It further comprehends novel means for r'endering a machine gun single firing or automatic.

It further comprehends a novel construction and arrangement of a sub-calibre machine gun and novel means for attaching it to the housing of a standard-machine gun.

Other novel features of construction and advantage will hereinafter'appear in the detailed description and the appended claims.

For the purpose of illustrating our invention, we have shown in the accompanying drawings a preferred embodiment of i it, which, in'practice, 40 will give satisfactory and reliable results. It is,

however, to'be understood that this embodiment is typicalonly, and the various instrumentalities of which our invention consists can be variously arranged and organized, and the invention is not limited to the exact arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein set forth.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a machine gun embodying our invention, certain of the parts being cut away for the sake of clearness of illus- 50 tration.

Figure 2 is a side elevation similar to Figure 1, but showing certain of the partsin adifferent relation from that shown in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the breech block and impact member.

Figure 4 is a side elevation of the gun ready for mounting in the machine gun housing.

Figure 5 is an exploded view showing the housing, back plate and locking member.

Figure 6 is a sectional view showing more par- 5 ticularly the sear, hammer and firing pin.

Similar numerals indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings:-

l designates the frame of. a machine gun embodying our invention. The breech 2 has slid- 10 ably mountedon it the breech block 3 on which is slidably mounted an impact member 4, the iongitudinal movement of which is limited by the keys 5 fixed to the breech block by fastening devices 6 and extending into slots 1 in the impact 15 member 4, to limit the longitudinal movement of the impact member relatively to the breech block.

8 designates the sear. 9 designates the trigger.

The firing action may be of any desired or conventional type and as these actions are well known to those skilled in this art, we have deemed it necessary in this case to onlyillustrate the sear ,8, since our invention is more particularly di- 1 rected to the controlling mechanism for the firing action to render it single'shot or automatic at the will of the operator.

- The grip has pivoted to'it at I l a control lever l2 adapted to be pressed downwardly by the thumb of the operator against the tension of a spring pressed plunger l3 mounted in a stationary block I4 fixed to the frame. The control lever l2 has one end of an arm l5 pivoted to it at l6.

l1 designates a firing lever pivotally mounted at [8 and having its forward end deflected rearwardly as at I9 to be in the path of the impact member 4. A spring pressed plunger 20 in the 1 block l4, tends to move the forward end of the firing lever ll upwardly, and a stop 2| is provided to limit such upward movement. The rear end of the firing lever is cut at an angle to form a shoulder 22, between which and the sear 8, the arm l5 ispositioned when the control lever 12 is pressed downwardly to cause a full automatic actuation of the machine gun. The block l4 serves as a stop to limit downward movement of the control leverl2. The firing action is a conven- -tional Colt firing action, in which the sear 8 controls a hammer 33 which is adapted to strike the firing pin 34. r

23 designates a back plate, fixed to the barrel and having at oppositesides vertical slots 24 and at its bottom 2. depending rib 25. The back plate is assembled with respect to the housing 26 and locked with respect thereto by a doublepronged locking bracket 21, the prongs of which enter the slots 24 of the back plate and the slots .28 of the housing.

In Figure 4 our device is shown vas a machine rifle, the barrel 29 which is omitted in Figures 1 and 2 being illustrated.

The locking bracket 21 is locked in position by the latch plate 30. The impact member 4 is normally retained in its rearward position by a spring pressed plunger 3| mounted in a key 5. This spring pressed plunger 3! may be omitted if desired.

The barrel.29 has mounted on it a collar 32 which contributes to align the gun in the housing.

The operation will now be apparent to those skilled in this art and is as follows: 7

When the control mechanism is in the position shown in Figure 1 and the trigger is pulled the machine gun is single shot, and when in the position seen in Figure 2it is full automatic.

In the typical operation of a machine gun the force of the recoil is used to automatically fire and reload the gun and to effect the feed of the cartridges. At each firing of a cartridge the recoil unlocks the bolt and moves it to the rear against the action of a spring and causing the empty shell to be extracted and feed a live cartridge from the magazine.

The bolt on its forward movement loads a cartridge into the barrel, ejects the extracted shell and fires alive cartridge.

In our. novel control mechanism when the breech block moves forwardly the impact member 4 moves in unison with it and when the breech block's forward movementis arrested, the impact member due to momentum continues to'move forwardly impacting against the forward end l9 of the firing lever ll, thus rocking such lever and causing its rear end to strike the block I 4 without striking the sear 8. The foregoing operation is the single shot action of the gun.

If the operator desires to fire a continuous series of cartridges, he presses downwardly on the control lever l2 moving'the arm l5 between the sear 8 and the firing lever I I so that the sear ,8

will be actuated by the firing lever to eifect the release of the firing pin.

In assembling our machine gun with a conventional machine gun housing, the cover of the housing is raised and the latch plate moved forwardly. The back plate is moved into the rear open end of the housing and the rib 25 fits into a depression 33 in the bottom of the housing formed to receive it. The locking bracket 21 is I moved downwardly so that its prongs enterthe slots 24 and 28. The latch plate is moved rearwardly to overhang the locking bracket and retain it in position. The housing cover is closed and the machine gun is assembled for operation.

In accordance with our invention a sub-calibre machine rifle can be readily assembled with a conventional machine gun, so that the machine gun training of men can be carried out and inexpensive ammunition used.

The machine gun can be of any desired calibre but is preferably a 22 calibre gun.

Our novel controlling mechanism can be employed with any desired automatic firing action.

The closing of the breech block actuates means controllable at the will of the operator to render the machine gun automatic or single shot, when the trigger is pressed.

In Figure 2, the impact member I is shown as having moved forwardly due to its momentum the actual impact takes place.

It will now be apparent that we have devised a new and useful machine gun which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable in the statement of the invention and the above description, and while we have, in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodiment thereof which will givein practice satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that this. embodiment is susceptible of modification in various particulars Without departing fromthe spirit or scope of the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is;

1. In an automatic gun, including a breech block and sear, of an impact member carried by said breech block, having limited relative longitudinal movement on said breech block, and advancing due to its momentum on the closing of the breech and means in the path of said impact member effective to actuate the sear and release the firing pin to render the gun automatic.

2. In an automatic gun, having a breech block and a firin'g action including a sear and a trigger, an impact member free to slide longitudinally on said breech block but moving in unison with it during the closing of the breech, means in the path of said impact member adapted under certain condition to actuate said sear, and manually controlled means to render said first means efiective or ineffective to actuate said sear.

3. In a machine gun having an automatic firing action including a sear, a breech block, an impact member movably carried by the breech block and assuming a position in advance of said breech block after the closing of the breech, a lever having one end in the path of said impact member, an abutment for said lever normally preventing said lever contacting with said sear, and a manually actuated member movable into the path of said lever to cause said sear to release the firing pin and thus render the gun automatic.

4. In a machine gun, an automatic firing action, a breech block, an impact member movably carried by said breech block, and controlling mechanism for said firing action actuated by the momentum of said impact member after the closing ofthe breech and effective at the will of the operator to render the firing action single shot or automatic.

5. In an automatic gun, an automatic firing action, including the sear, a breech block, an impact member movably mounted on the breech block and having a slot, a key on said breech block and entering said slot to limit relative longitudinal movement of said impact member and breech block, a firing lever, resilient means to retain one end of said lever in the path of said impact member, and a manually actuated member cooperating with said lever and sear to render the firing action automatic.

6. In an automatic gun, an automatic firing action, including the sear, a breech block, an impact member movably mounted on the breech block, a firing lever, resilient means to retain one end of said lever in the path of said impact member, a manually actuated member cooperating with said lever and sear to render the firing action automatic, means to normally retain said member in a position ineffective to actuate said sear, and an abutment for said firing lever preventing the actuation of said sear unless said member is in cooperative relationship with said lever and sear.

7. In an automatic gun, a firing actionincluding a sear, a breech block, an impact member mounted for relative longitudinal movement on said breech block, resilient means to normally retain said impact member in its rearward position relatively to the breech block, and controlling mechanism actuated by said impact 10 member and controllable at'the will. of the 'op-.

erator to cause'the firing action to be single shot or automatic. v I

8. In a machine gun, a-reciprocatory breech block, animpact member keyed to it for limited relative longitudinal movement with it after the breech is closed and means impacted against .by said impact member after the breech is closed to cause automatic firing. I

REGINALD F. SEDGLEY. MARTIN WURZER. 

